Equilibrium (#196)

Big Finish Main Range

“Isenfel be
constant” is a refrain from this story that rings strange but horrific on the
ears. Balancer Skaarsgard is the man in charge of keeping the balance across
all of Isenfel, from animal to people and everything, energy-wise. The balance
should be maintained in this experimental environment, where everything’s kept
in check. Turlough wanders off with Princess Inger for a hunting session, while
Tegan and Nyssa wander the halls getting into trouble, and the Doctor digs into
the technology that makes Isenfel tick.

The best part of
this story is the philosophical discussions around whether the meddling the
Doctor does is actually helping. It appears not to be in this storyline. And I
realized as well that a lot of the time, he ends up with a solution to the
issue that requires a sacrifice of some kind, which the residents of the place
that needs saving always seem to come up with. Usually a proto-companion is the
one doing the sacrificing of some sort, too. So as he agonizes over fixing the
problem, that person acts. And this is much more prevalent in the 5th
Doctor stories, it seems to be. And somewhat the 8th Doctor as well
but it’s conundrum to me – how does he cope with it? How can he still go on
meddling, as it were? Who else would… And it is what makes him our hero. It’s a
major theme of this story and is well considered within the plot, though never
quite resolved. Good stuff!